Last week, we told you about the Epic Games Store and its upcoming giveaways. And now you can get Subnautica free from Epic Games.
Read the following paragraph carefully before proceeding.
Epic Games is tricking you to opt-in to the newsletter.
There is something you should know about the Epic Games Giveaway. The website's checkout page has the following statement:
The game you are purchasing is licensed by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. Click here to not receive emails from them with the latest information about similar products and services.
It appears that Epic Games is sneakily misusing two things.The common method used by most online services, is to get users to subscribe to their email newsletters. Usually, you have to check the box to opt-in to a newsletter, in this it is the opposite. The other thing that Epic Games is misusing, is the simple fact that people don't read the terms and conditions, even if it is only one sentence.But the sentence has been deviously crafted, and could confuse users to believing they have to leave the box unchecked.
If you don't check the box, you will be opted-in to the email newsletters. Hopefully those emails will have an unsubscribe option. This is called a "Dark Pattern", a set of tricks used by websites to fool people into signing up for things they didn't want to. This practice is illegal in many Countries.
Get Subnautica free from Epic Games
1. To get your free copy of the game, go to the Subnautica page. Login to your Epic Games account, and you should see that the game’s regular price is struck out, and says free.
2. Click on the button, and you should be taken to the checkout page, where you need to CHECK THE BOX to opt out of the emails.
3. You will be taken to the game page again which now has an install button. This downloads the Epic Games launcher.
4. Login to your account, and the client should display your dashboard. Click on the “Library” tab and you can download Subnautica and play the game.
You have until December 27th, 11:59PM EST to get Subnautica free from Epic Games. Once you get the game in your library, you get to keep it forever. Epic Games will giveaway a free game every 2 weeks, until the end of 2019.
The next Epic Games giveaway is Super Meat Boy, which will start on December 28th.
Another issue: Epic Games Launcher opts-you into the beta version
For some reason, the Epic Games launcher opts users in to the beta automatically. I just happened to notice this, when I navigated to the settings page to disable the option "Run When My Computer Starts". You can click the "Disable Beta" option, to go back to the old version.